The Essential Age-Recovery Hand Cream

New from Skin Physics®, is the luxurious Caviar Hand & Nail renewal cream for ageing symptoms of the hand – wrinkly skin, crepey skin, dark spots, uneven complexion, dry & scaly skin, stained and brittle nails.

Besides the face and neck, our hands also reveal our age.  Just like in the face, the appearance of wrinkles, dark spots and volume loss in the hands is an indicator of age.

Let’s begin with the inspiration for including Caviar.

In our travel for unique skin active ingredients, we came across this story where in a tour visit to a salmon hatchery in Norway the guide revealed that workers sorting salmon eggs (Red Caviar), after a period of time, had more youthful looking hands (with plumper, smoother skin, lighter dark spots, and brighter skin complexion) compared to their faces which were unexposed to the Caviar water. 

This led us to conjecture that extracts from the Caviar salmon were directly responsible for this improvement in anti-aging symptoms for the hand.

Our own further research found that Caviar roe, sourced from Germany and sustainably harvested, is a rich source of proteins, amino acids, sugars, vitamins and minerals. 

Our unique source of Caviar extract showed restorative, anti-ageing effects in a double-blind clinical study involving 15 volunteers (ages 25-73 yrs) using a cream containing 2% of this Caviar extract.

The following average results were obtained after 30 days (relative to placebo), with 49% of women tested showing an appreciable improvement in wrinkles compared to placebo; 27% of women showing significant increase in volume from a refatting effect; and 32% of women with appreciable improvement in moisturisation.

According to our research, the above skin results using an extract from this species of Caviar represents the first, human clinical evidence data showing anti-ageing benefits from Caviar compared to brands that sell expensive Caviar creams with little science to back-up its claims, and using Caviar extract at much lower levels.

Such is not the case with our Advance Superlift®, Caviar Age-Recovery Hand cream which uses this safe and proven ingredient at 2%.  Therefore, skin benefits to your hand from daily and regular use of this Caviar indulgent cream is expected to smooth wrinkles and plump skin, giving youthful-looking hands.

Another topic that needs to be addressed when selecting your hand cream is whether this contains protective ingredients from accelerated ageing effects due to sun exposure.

It would come to no surprise that Australians experience quicker and more severe signs of ageing because of our love for the sun and outdoors.  But with that sun freedom, comes cumulative damage to our skin from high UV and IR radiation exposure that starts from our childhood and adolescence.

Indeed, this was shown in a 2018 published study in the Australasian Journal of Dermatologyby researchers from Monash University and the Skin & Cancer Foundation (Melbourne) involving an internet-based questionnaire of 1472 women (Causcasian and Asian women, ages 18-75 yrs), with findings that Australian women reported more severe facial lines and loss of facial volume (with tear troughs and nasolabial folds) than women in Canada, UK, and USA.

In Australia, the steepest increases in ageing severity for Crow’s feet lines, occurred between ages 30-69 yrs; forehead lines, ages 30-59 yrs; glabella lines, 18-49 yrs; lines around the mouth and lips, 40-69 yrs; with higher rates of signs of ageing than women from Canada, UK and USA. 

Don’t think lines and wrinkles only happen when you’re much older.

This study showed on an average the severity for increased forehead, glabella and Crow’s feet lines and tear trough severity was greater among Australians aged 18-29 yrs than women of this age group from Canada, UK and USA.

Overall, this study shows because of Australians (from childhood and adolescence) cumulative exposure to high levels of UV rays from the sun, this external factor has a significant and accelerating impact on the signs of ageing for many Australians.

Our luxurious Caviar formula with SPF helps protect the skin from both harmful UVB (SPF 15 blocks 93%) and UVA sun rays.  As your day moisturiser with SPF we recommend applying this cream before putting on make-up in the morning.  If not using makeup, to reapply this before heading out during lunch time and then mid-afternoon, if outside.

Caviar Age-Recovery™ quickly absorbs into the skin so that you can use as often as desired without experiencing product build-up, waxy feel or white residual film on the skin.

Sun exposure not only leads to degradation of collagen and elastin resulting in wrinkles, loss of skin firmness, crepey and dull looking skin, but also results in increased skin pigmentation and waste deposits that result in uneven complexion and formation of dark spots.

As we age, we find our skin faced with increased levels of oxidative stress is unable to efficiently clear accumulated deposits of oxidized waste involving fatty acids, sugars, pigments, smaller chemical substances (like drugs), metals in the skin.  

We have a natural cellular detoxification processes in the skin and body that consist of mechanisms which clear protein deposits and a Phase I/Phase II detoxification system which eliminates toxic substances (food components, chemicals, smoke and pollution) from the skin. 

To facilitate these detoxification processes to reduce dark spots we were inspired by scientific studies that show vegetables, like Broccoli and herbs, like Garden cress contain a natural compound, called Sulforaphane.

This active compound has powerful cellular detoxification activity!

Sulforaphane was found to reduce the number of oxidized proteins and lipids by enhancing or recovering proteasome and autophagic activities but also blocking Phase I oxidative enzymes and increasing Phase II antioxidant activities.  Specifically, Sulforaphane acts like a ‘switch’ turning on gene expression of the skin’s own detoxification and antioxidant proteins.

What benefit is Sulforaphane for our ageing skin?

It reduces dark spots which are very difficult to remove, these involving skin areas of high production of melanin and lipofuscin.

Sulforaphane as an antioxidant reduces oxidative stress which triggers melanin synthesis and lipofuscin formation, a yellow-brown waste material that accumulates as granules in the skin. 

Combining Sulforaphane (present in high concentration in Garden Cress Sprouts) with Genistein (an isoflavone active found in Soya Beans) is a double-duo blend that blocks UV-induced pigmentation by different mechanisms, giving a natural solution to effectively reduce sun spots/dark spots.

This was shown in a placebo-controlled study involving 10 women (ages 47-77), applying a test cream on their hand containing 4% of this phytonutrient blend (of Garden Cress Sprouts extract and Soy Isoflavones).  Twice daily application over 4 weeks showed significant and selective reduction in dark spots (avg reduction of 6% relative to initial condition and placebo) in comparison to normal pigmented skin around the age spot.  This selective fading effect on dark spots rather than overall lightening of the skin gives perceptible reduction in dark spots which leads to more even skin tone.

Most hand creams are simply moisturisers, using inexpensive emollients and humectants. 

Our Caviar hand cream is not merely a moisturiser but an Anti-Ageing cream that we expect will become a favourite for many women in Australia, New Zealand and beyond. 

Besides the added Anti-Ageing actives, this liquid-crystal moisturising cream contains two high quality and proven moisturisers for hand and nails:

• a 100% natural, plant-derived ingredient which strongly binds to proteins in our skin, produces an immediate effect of increasing moisturisation deep with the skin that keeps the skin moist with regular use that can last up to 72 hours.

This moisturiser helps to strengthen the skin barrier function, using as little as 1% of this ingredient, confirmed after 2 wks of use with test subjects reporting improved skin smoothness, softness, reduced skin flakiness and itchiness.

• Hydrolysed Keratin (from pure New Zealand wool) as novel keratin peptides are able to penetrate nails and crosslink with the keratin within to improve the strength and integrity of the nails. This was demonstrated in a study of 7 volunteers and analysis of the surface of their nails by electron microscopy, that use of a 3% Hydrolysed Keratin cream (specific source) showed superior protection of the nail surface, smoothing damaged cuticles and increasing water retention within the nails giving healthier looking nails (less white, less dry).
  
  

Written by Dr Curtis Crasto, R&D and Technical Manager at Skin Physics®